All transitions are associated with change. People, basically conservative by nature, tend to resist change. Any intervention needs to consider that reactions to a transition are affected by prior experience, by the way transitions are viewed in an individual's social network, and by what learning opportunities are available. Responses can be viewed as typical under the circumstances, with rites of passage and helpers available to guide people in coping; or they can be viewed as a result of deficits in the individual for which treatment is prescribed. To facilitate change, seen as an expected event, individuals need to be linked to resources and information. They need role models and legitimation of their feelings. Learning, at such times of stress, seems to be facilitated by the availability of a peer, in the sense that the helper has had a similar experience. This help is available in mutual help groups. However, many kinds of help need to be available. The goal of any help is to empower the individual to cope in ways that promote growth and change.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
1. James S. Tyhurst, “The Role of Transition States—Including Disasters in Mental Illness,” in Symposium on Preventive and Social Psychiatry, (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1958), pp. 149-169.
2.
2. Phyllis R. Silverman, “Services for the Widowed During the Period of Bereavement,”Social Work Practice (New York: Columbia University Press), pp. 170-189.
3.
3. Silvio Arieti and Jules Bemporad, Severe and Mild Depression (New York: Basic Books, 1978).
4.
4. Paul C. Rosenblatt, R. Patricia Walsh, and Douglas A. Jackson, Grief and Mourning in Cross Cultural Perspective (Human Relations Area Files Press, 1976).
5.
5. Gail Sheehy, Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life (New York: Dutton, 1976).
6.
6. Robert W. White, “Strategies of Adaptation: An Attempt at Systematic Description,” in Coping and Adaptation, eds. G. V. Coelho, David A. Hamburg, and John E. Adams (New York: Basic Books, 1974), pp. 47-68.
7.
7. David A. Hamburg and John E. Adams, “A Perspective on Coping: Seeking and Utilizing Information in Major Transitions,”Archives of General Psychiatry, 17:277-284 (1967).
8.
8. President's Commission on Mental Health, Commission Report, Vol. II (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1978).
9.
9. Rhona Rappaport, “Normal Crisis, Family Structure and Mental Health,”Family Process, 2:68-80 (1963).
10.
10. Peter Marris, Loss and Change (New York: Pantheon, 1974).
11.
11. Jean Piaget, The Construction of Reality in the Child (New York: Basic Books, 1954).
12.
12. Lily Pincus, Death and the Family (New York: Random House, 1975).
13.
13. Robert J. Lifton, “Symbolic Immortality,” in The Patient, Death and the Family, eds. Stanly B. Troup and William A. Greene (New York: Scribner, 1974), pp. 21-36.
14.
14. Marris, Loss and Change.
15.
15. Pincus, Death and the Family; Daniel J. Levinson with Charlotte W. Darrowet al., The Seasons of a Man's Life (New York: Knopf, 1978).
16.
16. Rosenblatt, Walsh, and Jackson, Grief and Mourning.
17.
17. Helena Z. Lopata, “Loneliness: Forms and Components,”Social Problems, 17:248-261 (1969).
18.
18. Phyllis R. Silverman, “Widowhood and Preventive Intervention,”The Family Coordinator, 21:95-102 (1972).
19.
19. Phyllis R. Silverman, Helping Women Cope with Grief (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1981).
20.
20. White, “Strategies of Adaptation.”
21.
21. Silverman, “Widowhood and Preventive Intervention.”
22.
22. Rosenblattet al., Grief and Mourning.
23.
23. Tyhurst, “The Role of Transition States”; John Bowlby, “Process of Mourning,”International Journa of Psychoanalysis, 42:329 (1961).
24.
24. Robert S. Weiss, “Transition States and Other Stressful Situations: Their Nature and Programs for their Management,” in Support Systems and Mutual Help, eds. Gerald Caplan and Marie Killilea (New York: Grune & Stratton, 1976), pp. 213-232; Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, On Death and Dying (New York: Macmillan, 1969).
25.
Colin M. Parkes , “Psycho-Social Transition: A Field of Study,”Social Science and Medicine, 5:101-115 (1971).
26.
26. Roxanne L. Silver and Camille B. Wortman, “Coping with Undesirable Life Events,” in Human Helplessness, eds. Judy Garber and Martin L. Seligman (New York: Academic, 1980).
27.
27. Avery Weissman, Coping with Cancer (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979).
28.
28. Benjamin Gottlieb, “Social Networks and Social Support in Community Mental Health,” in Social Networks and Social Support, ed. Benjamin H. Gottlieb (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1981).
29.
29. Gerald Caplan, “Support Systems,” in Support Systems and Community Mental Health, ed. Gerald Caplan (New York: Basic Books, 1974), p. 6.
30.
30. Manuel Barrera, “Social Support in the Adjustment of Pregnant Adolescents: Assessment Issues,” in Benjamin H. Gottlieb, “Social Networks,” p. 69-96.
31.
31. John Eckenrode and Susan Gore, “Stressful Events and Social Supports: The Significance of Context,” in Benjamin H. Gottlief, Social Networks, pp. 43-68.
32.
32. Ronald G. Havelock and Mary C. Havelock, Training for Change Agents (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1973).
33.
33. Albert Bandura, Social Learning Theory (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1977).
34.
34. Stanley Schacter, The Psychology of Affiliation (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1959).
35.
35. Phyllis R. Silverman and Diane Smith, “Helping in Mutual Help Groups for the Physically Disabled,” in Mental Health and the Self-Help Revolution, eds. Alan Gartner and Frank Reissman (New York: Human Science Press, in press).
36.
36. Phyllis R. Silverman, “Anticipatory Grief from the Perspective of Widowhood,” in Anticipatory Grief, ed. Bernard Schoenberg (New York: Columbia University Press, 1974).
37.
37. Silver and Wortman, “Coping with Undesirable Life Events.”
39. Morton Lieberman and Leonard Borman, eds., Self Help Groups for Coping with Crisis (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1979).
40.
40. Phyllis R. Silverman, Mutual Help Groups: Organization and Development (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1980).
41.
41. Ibid.
42.
42. Robert J. Lifton, Home from the War (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1973).
43.
43. Marie Killilea, “Mutual Help Organizations: Interpretations in the Literature,” in Support Systems and Mutual Help: Multidisciplinary Explorations, eds. Gerald Caplan and Marie Killilea (New York: Grune & Stratton, 1976); Alan Gartner and Frank Riessman, Self Help in the Human Services (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1977); Phyllis Silverman, Mutual Help Groups: A Guide for Mental Health Workers, ADM 78-646 (Rockville, MD: NIMH, 1978).
44.
44. Erving Goffman, Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identities (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963).
45.
45. Edith Lennenbert, Personal Communication, 1971.
46.
46. Naomi Golan, Passing Through Transitions: A Guide for Practitioners (New York: Free Press, 1981), p. 242.
47.
47. Benjamin Gottleib, “Lay Influences on the Utilization and Provision of Health Services: A Review,”Canadian Psychological Review, 17 (2): 1197-1199 (Oct. 1976).
48.
48. Gerald Caplan, “The Family as Support System,” in Caplan and Killilea, Support Systems and Mutual Help.
49.
49. Deborah Belle, “Social Stress and Social Support,” in Lives in Stress, ed. Deborah Belle (Beverly Hills, CA: Sage, 1982).
50.
50. Carol Stack, All Our Kin (New York: Harper Colophon, 1974).
51.
51. American Psychiatric Association, Disorders, 3rd ed. (Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Assoc., 1980).
52.
52. Silverman, Mutual Help Groups: Organization and Development.
53.
53. Thomasina Borkman, “Experimental Knowledge: A New Concept for the Analysis of Self-Help Groups,”Social Service Review (Sept., 1976), pp. 445-456.
54.
54. Phyllis Silverman, “The Mental Health Consultant as Linking Agent,” in Community Support System and Mutual Help: Building Linkages, eds. David Beigel and Arthur Naparstek (New York: Springer Press, 1982).
